For months many debates over Britain’s membership of the European Union went on in the media. I thought the soup would never be so hot as it is served and that the than the many lies of those misleading the people. Many forgot this time it could really be to sink or to swim.

More than 30 million people voted and presented a turnout of 71.8%, the highest turnout in a UK-wide vote since the 1992 general election. By a substantial margin the British expressed their disgust for the European Union. Strangely enough areas who have received lots of pounds from the continent voted to leave the union.

In 1975 the referendum on whether the UK should remain in the EEC brought 17,378,581 yes votes, 8,470,073 votes, but it was countered by 17,410,742 people (51.89%) asking to leave the European Union opposite 16,141,241 votes (48.11%) to remain, with 46,501,241 registered voters and a turn out of 72.2%.

England voted strongly for Brexit, by 53.4% to 46.6%, as did Wales, with Leave getting 52.5% of the vote and Remain 47.5%.

It has to be neck or nothing. After the not such high turn out of voters, it showed that perhaps not many are interested in the European Union or in their own country opposite the other countries. for many it perhaps did not matter so much if it was over shoes or over boots. by their absence they took French leave and created the possibility to have their federation and Great Britain to fall in pieces, leaving it behind shattered in an awful awakening from a bad nightmare.

It perhaps did not look like a vote to be decided by self-interest groups like unions, business federations, nor high-profile celebrities. None of them are accountable for the vote. But the politicians who used this referendum as their useful leg up to the prime minister’s seat, have like the present prime minister backed the wrong horse.

After having told the English public for years that the EU was no good it became very difficult to proof to the inhabitants of the Great Nation Britain that it was not unsuitable. All the arguments pro Eu looked for many not valid, after it was pumped in their head for years how unfit the European Union was.

Having not given it an unemotional portrayal of facts we saw several ministers playing on the emotions of those who wanted all those immigrants out and on those who had so many fears because media exaggerated the matters and ciphers a lot.
As always we saw and heard many politicians stretch the truth. I do not know if they thought lies would not have legs, on the date after the voting soon the the truth murder came out. Many who voted for leaving the EU also found that those stories they had believed were not worth a button. Their twopence hung on the trees, leaving them, and us Europeans, with a hangover ready to take vengeance on Great Britain itself as well as on the 27 members of the European Union. Very soon, the wind started blowing with a vengeance in an already disrupted union.

Having complained all the time about the EU and never having shown the thankfulness for all the millions of pounds Europe pumped in Great Britain, the British citizens had taken over the negative thought of their politicians, who suddenly now came divided in two opposing camps, having one telling them it was in the end not so bad as they said before…..

Who to believe?

For sure many billions of pounds/Euro’s are wasted in the European Union which can not prevent offshore bank accounts and tax avoidance or evasion on what was exposed to be an industrial scale. Also the clubs within the Club of special VIPs did not help and several European countries like Belgium having people in charge who mistreat their own flock squeezing them out like lemons, at the same time being unable to combat fraud, immigration and criminality.

Looking at the unsuccessful level of cooperation with France and other cross-border nations for Belgium has not been an overt convincing tool of a working union.

The Union has to sort out its relationship with the citizens and for sure has to avoid loosing to much money on unnecessary wasting posts like the regular ridiculous move to Strasbourg.

The European Union has to set an example as a warning to avoid a domino effect and should not allow months of negotiation between the leavers and the EU about the flavour of exit. Europe may not give those dreaming of an exit that it would be possible to ply a yoyo, if in 10 years’ time a country feels it made an emotional mistake voting for exit that Europe would be more than happy to readmit such a country even be it “moneybags” Britain.

I agree that there is a lot to renegotiate, but all the funding to Great Britain has to stop immediately and it may not take many months, and certainly not take more than 2 years to complete. Those who want to leave should be shown the doors soon and left with the consequences of their own choice. In case Scotland and Ireland want to stay in the Union they should be able to become independent countries where the citizens have the freedom to be a Scotsman or an Irishman as well as being a European citizen with all the full rights of that Union. this naturally would mean the end of Great Britain, but it was warned this could happen and the people did not want to know it.

Now great Britain has to face the devaluation of its currency, shall have boarder controls again with limitation of free travel and extra loss of currency by extra taxes (entrance fees, custom costs, etc.). It also shall have to spend time and loose a lot of energy and costs making new trading agreements.

When I was still living in the UK the population was not asked if they wanted to come in the European Economic Community (EEC). Those living in Great Britain had enough cheap products from the Common Wealth countries. A single market was not yet established in the 70ies of the previous century, and it was Britain that was Europe’s sick man. suddenly we were forced in buying too expensive European products, instead of our favoured New Zealand and Australian products. Today when those products for so far would leave an unacceptable ecological footprint and would cost a lot to bring to Great Britain, the British citizens shall have to face import and export duties and companies shall again have to bargain import licences.

Minister David Cameron has had to call the Brexit vote to appease right-wing Conservative backbenchers in Westminster as well as some of his own ministers such as Michael Gove. And he’s had to keep his word made to voters at the last General Election in May 2015. Wanting to avoid Conservative-versus-Conservative warfare the prime minister not willing to have a serious public debate on television took away the chances of showing the public what was really at heart. Sir Lynton Crosby, the Australian strategist who advised the Tories in their 2015 election campaign, advised to go to the Brussels summit trying to renegotiate and get better opportunities in 2017.

Cameron also hoping to clear his position and making himself a stronger speaker in the European Union by declaring himself as a defender of the Union, looking forward to see it grow this time his bet turned out the wrong way.

Corbyn in April 2016

Also Jeremy Corbyn, facing a leadership coup on Sunday night, became a looser having lost more than half his Cabinet and seen more than 30 of his MPs revolt against his leadership over the last 48 hours.

Mr Corbyn, on June the 27th has lost 20 of his 31 strong shadow cabinet and seen a further 13 shadow ministers resign this morning.

Stockbrokers and betting offices also got red faces. Eurozone markets were hit by a selloff Friday after Britain’s vote to exit the European Union, an event many analysts expect could bolster further anti-European sentiment and increase tensions between nations in the common currency area. In case the European Union waits to long to end the connection with Great Britain it could be part of the economical downfall the island may expect for the coming few years.

From the few days after the voting it seems to be clear that Cameron’s gamble resulted in a pretty messy break-up and that the European Union shall have to be careful this situation does not become a serious virus or a cancer not been taken away soon enough.

18 Responses to Backing the wrong horse

You can’t ignore the democratic deficit in the EU. As long as the Commission is responsible for initiating new legislation, with the EP acting like the House of Lords in the UK and only capable of modifying proposed legislation, and as long as the Commission is unelected by voters there is no democracy as far as the British are concerned. Believe me, this really was a significant factor on the 23 June.

You talk about the funding (to the UK) has to stop, and the UK “never having shown the thankfulness for all the millions of pounds Europe pumped in Great Britain”.

I’m afraid you just don’t understand, and in not understanding this simple monetary trade off you just can’t see why this played a big, and for the UK voters an arguably decisive reason for voting exit. The EU has no money. Anything the EU ‘pumps’ out comes from somebody else’s taxes ‘pumping’ money in. The simple fact is that the UK ‘pumps’ money into the EU.

Apart from the single year of 1975 when the UK was a net beneficiary of EEC largesse, (no surprise this was the year in which we were asked to Remain or Leave), the UK for about 30 years thereafter and along with Germany was the ONLY net contributor. Can I just repeat that. The UK second only to Germany was the country that was subsidising the creation of the absurdly wasteful wine lakes and butter mountains. And remember this was the period when we really were the sick man of Europe with Denis Healey doing his Oliver Twist begging bowl act at the IMF. As a supplicant to the IMF we were nevertheless handing out with the other hand to the EEC. How do you think that plays with voters?

The typo. You refer to the 1975 referendum. You of course mean the 2016 referendum. I voted Yes to remain in 1975 and it was a foregone conclusion with roughly a 2:1 vote in favour. Those were the days when polling organisations actually got things correct. Every one I saw this time got it wrong, along with the bookmakers, who whilst they still turned a profit (no surprise there) always had Remain ahead.
Absolutely correct. The UK was the sick man of Europe, brought to it’s knees by the unions. For a time I worked at British Leyland at Longbridge as it was then, and rarely was there a day without pickets on the gates with Red (Derek) Robbo spouting his communist rhetoric. Margaret Thatcher allowed us to shake of the shackles of rampant socialism and sadly the EU never learns.

I referred to both referenda. And when GB entered the union I also felt the difficulty of being able to buy the necessary utilities, like milk, bread, a.o.
The subsidies for the over production of milk and butter have always been a wrong direction, as well creating a means to have fraudulent acts, like we also can see with the export subsidies.

The great politician Margaret Thatcher has improved a lot for GB and still should be a great example for GB and the European Union.

That funds should come from all citizens in the EU is a matter of solidarity, which should be stimulated. Too many people (countries) only have an eye to what the can get and not to what they can share. Each country shall have it good and bad days and in good and bad times they all should be willing to support each other and aim for the same goal: one united federal union of states or countries which also may have their own particularities.

The farmers and many cities who got subsidies form the EU shall be shaken to see that GB shall not be willing to give such money to them.

Strangely enough lots of people also did not question the amounts of money that were promised by the pro-leave groups. (Funding for the NHS?)

You are afraid the EU never learns, but I sincerely hope they shall learn and at some time will grow out of the infant and adolescent state to become something better, though smaller, and more democratic than the U.S.A..

It were also the British who wanted too much the captain and had a deliberate desire to create posts for them by enlarging institutions that worked well with a dozen members, but which is no longer manageable in the cacophony of twenty-eight country summits, certainly when one member (often GB) could call for a veto.

I am also convinced that by not wanting to go for hard rules are by being too soft to the new members, the EU showed her inability to face up to recent crises, from the smallest (the Greek crisis) to the largest (the euro, terrorism, migrants), which made many citizens doubting the value of this Union.

Having the rebel GB out of the Union perhaps Europe will rediscover a diplomatic strategy closer to its interests and values and shall find a solution that not all members have to agree with a proposition.

Brexit has to start a process of reorienting Europe around countries that genuinely want to go forward together, and it better looks back at the aims of Robert Schuman and at the work and time of Charles the Great.

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